Most aircraft windows have shades to control the amount of light entering the interior of the aircraft. The simplest aircraft window is typically comprised of retractable shade material with a rail along the bottom. The rail typically has a tab that can be gripped by the passenger for sliding vertically between a closed (usually down) position, in which the window is covered, and an open (usually up) position, allowing light into the cabin.
However, many aircraft, including typically those in the executive jet aircraft class, have rather expensively appointed interiors, including custom designed windows. Sometimes these windows are electric, sometimes manual, or sometimes electric with manual overdrives. These custom interiors also may feature modular windows with shades located between an inner lens and an outer lens and activated by a mechanical or electrical mechanism by the passenger. These modular windows, often built by after-market supply firms and fitted at modification centers ("Mod centers"), have shades made of a variety of materials; but typically, the materials are collapsible between an extended (down or closed) position and a retracted (up or open) position. An example of such modular window units with retractable shades may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,610 (Spraggins, 1987). The '610 patent features a modular, self-contained window unit having two panes of transparent, impact-resistant glass secured by a frame and having a shade made of a collapsible sheet movable between an open and closed position.
Manufacturers of present window shade material include Hunter-Douglas, which supplies pleated shade materials to Assignee. However, shade material suppliers are limited in the styles and color section which can be provided. Presently used shade materials are typically pleated and collapsible with sufficient rigidity to maintain their shape, form, and uniformity.
Advantages exist in using any upholstery material or fabric. The use of any upholstery material or other sheet of fabric increases the design opportunity available to the interior designer for coordinating the colors and textures of the interior of the aircraft to the window shade material. Thus, greater flexibility is provided in an aircraft window shade which can use any flexible fabric, rather than the limited selection of presently available shade materials.
Some of the present aircraft windows utilize a "Roman shade", that is, one having horizontal pleats. These, however, utilize a bar or rod, or a series of bars or rods, extending horizontally across the windows. From these bars or rods is draped heavy fabric, typically backed with thin foam (such as Insulite). The bars or rods are raised and lowered, deploying fabric as they are lowered and gathering it up as they are raised. Typically, the fabric is a single sheet with multiple pleats and multiple bars or rods. It does not tend to hold its shape well, tends to be heavy, and bulky, especially when the shade is in a raised or up position. Further, it has a limited ability to block out heat, light, and sound, even when in a down or closed position.